SlideShare a Scribd company logo
Turning Object Storage into
Virtual Machine Storage
The open source Storage Router
The Rise of Object Storage
Source: http://blog.oxygencloud.com/2013/09/16/after-10-years-object-storage-investment-continues-and-begins-to-bear-
significant-fruit/
Object Storage
• Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) started the Object Store
momentum
• ... but new players are taking over:
– Scality
– Ceph
– Swiftstack
– Amplidata
– DataDirect Networks
– ...
• Used to store files but not as primary storage for Virtual Machines
Object Storage Benefits
• Build scale-out storage by adding more servers
• High reliability by duplicating content across nodes
• Easy to manage (no need to know about RAID or volumes)
• Standard API as all solutions support S3 API, no vendor lock-in
• Cost-effictive: mix SSDs (small but fast) and SATA (slow but large)
Object Storage <> Hypervisor
• Object Storage
– Objects
– Buckets
– S3 API
• Hypervisor
– Files
– Folders
– Volumes
– Block level storage
What is needed is a technology whereby Virtual Machines can use
Object Stores instead of a SAN and get the benefits of the low cost
and scale-out capabilities of Object Stores
Object Storage Challenges
• The issues to use Object Storage as VM Storage:
– Eventual consistency (the CAP Theorem)
– Latency & performance
• VMs require low latency and high performance
• Object Stores are developed to contain lots of data
(large disks and low performance)
• Additional latency as Object Store is on the Local LAN instead of
attached to the server
– Different Management Paradigms
• Object Stores understand Objects <> Hypervisors understand VMs
Distributed File System?
• Distributed File Systems such as GlusterFS and Ceph are not an
answer:
– The CAP Theorem also applies to these (consistency <> performance)
– They were not designed for VMs (VM Snapshots?, cloning?)
• Even new File Systems (copy-on-write) can’t give an answer
None of the File Systems today have been designed to link
Virtual Machines and Object Storage.
The answer: Open vStorage
Open vStorage turns Object Storage into Virtual Machine usable
primary Storage!
What is Open vStorage
Open vStorage is an open source “Grid Storage Router" installed as a
virtual machine on a host or a cluster of hosts to create a VM-centric,
clustered, reliable, scale out and high performance storage system for
virtual machines out of Storage Backends such as Object Stores.
An Overview
ESXi / KVM ESXi / KVM ESXi / KVM
Scale-outVM VM
VM VM
VM VM
VM VM
VM VM
VM VM
Unified Namespace
...
Swift
SS
DSSD
Open
vStorage
SS
DSSD
Open
vStorage
SS
DSSD
Open
vStorage
Key aspects are
• Unified namespace presented as NFS to all Hosts
• Open vStorgae leverages server flash as acceleration
• Flexibility in storage backends
• Redundancy and Fault Tolerance in Software
• Asymmetric Scale Out Architecture
• VM-centric approach
• Multi-hypervisor
• Open-source: Apache License version, Version 2,0
Solving Eventual Consistency
TIME
LBA 1: A
LBA 2: B
LBA 3: C
LBA 4: D
LBA 5: E
LBA 1: F
LBA 1: A
LBA 6: G
LBA 2: C
LBA 3: D
LBA 4: E
...
SSD or PCI Flash
LBA 1: A
LBA 2: B
LBA 3: C
LBA 4: D
LBA 5: E
SCO 1
LBA 1: F
LBA 1: A
LBA 6: G
LBA 2: C
LBA 3: D
SCO 2
LBA 4: E
...
SCO 3
Transfer SCOs once they are full
to the Object Store at slow pace
Each write is appended
to the current SCO
Swift
...
How does it work ...
VM
VMDK
NFS
VM
Config
Open vStorage VSA
Distributed
Database
Volume
VM
VMDK
VM
Config
Volume
Storage Backend (Ceph, SwiftStack, ...)
Open vStorage VSA
VM
VMDK
VM
Config
Volume
Volume is only available on 1 Host!
Open vStorage: Summary
• Uses an always append approach
• Push Storage Container Objects to the Object Store once it is full
(at slower pace)
• Each Virtual Machine with the Open vStorage software has its own
NFS server and exports a different file system instance
• But each Host is tricked into believing that it accesses a single
unified namespace shared across all the Hosts (so vMotion is
supported)
Download the Open vStorage (it is free)
and give it a try!
http://doc.openvstorage.com/
Give it a try ...

More Related Content

PPT
Turning OpenStack Swift into a VM storage platform
PPT
Open vStorage Road show 2015 Q1
PPT
Open vStorage Meetup - Santa Clara 04/16
PDF
Road show 2015 triangle meetup
PDF
Turning OpenStack Swift into a VM storage platform
PDF
OpenStack Best Practices and Considerations - terasky tech day
PPTX
CloudStack Day Japan 2015 - Hypervisor Selection in CloudStack 4.5
PDF
Ceph and Apache CloudStack
Turning OpenStack Swift into a VM storage platform
Open vStorage Road show 2015 Q1
Open vStorage Meetup - Santa Clara 04/16
Road show 2015 triangle meetup
Turning OpenStack Swift into a VM storage platform
OpenStack Best Practices and Considerations - terasky tech day
CloudStack Day Japan 2015 - Hypervisor Selection in CloudStack 4.5
Ceph and Apache CloudStack

What's hot (20)

PDF
Ceph with CloudStack
PPTX
Cloud stack overview
PPTX
Cloud stack overview
KEY
Openstack In Real Life
ODP
Using CloudStack With Clustered LVM
PPTX
vSAN architecture components
PPTX
Hypervisor Selection in CloudStack and OpenStack
PPTX
Performance out
PDF
Cloud stack for_beginners
PDF
Running Cassandra in AWS
PDF
TechDay - Cambridge 2016 - OpenNebula Corona
PPTX
VMware Hybrid Cloud Service - Overview
PPTX
Introduction to OpenStack Cinder
PPTX
DevCloud - Setup and Demo on Apache CloudStack
PPTX
Getting Started with Apache CloudStack
PPT
Intro to CloudStack Build a Cloud Day
PDF
Freezer - Vietnam OpenStack Technical Meetup #12
PPTX
Dev cloud
PPTX
Redis Labs and SQL Server
PPTX
CloudStack vs OpenStack vs Eucalyptus: IaaS Private Cloud Brief Comparison
Ceph with CloudStack
Cloud stack overview
Cloud stack overview
Openstack In Real Life
Using CloudStack With Clustered LVM
vSAN architecture components
Hypervisor Selection in CloudStack and OpenStack
Performance out
Cloud stack for_beginners
Running Cassandra in AWS
TechDay - Cambridge 2016 - OpenNebula Corona
VMware Hybrid Cloud Service - Overview
Introduction to OpenStack Cinder
DevCloud - Setup and Demo on Apache CloudStack
Getting Started with Apache CloudStack
Intro to CloudStack Build a Cloud Day
Freezer - Vietnam OpenStack Technical Meetup #12
Dev cloud
Redis Labs and SQL Server
CloudStack vs OpenStack vs Eucalyptus: IaaS Private Cloud Brief Comparison
Ad

Similar to Turning object storage into vm storage (20)

PDF
Red Hat Storage Roadmap
PDF
Red Hat Storage Roadmap
PPTX
It's the End of Data Storage As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
PDF
Petabyte Scale Object Storage Service Using Ceph in A Private Cloud - Varada ...
PPTX
Whats new in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Clustering and Storage
PPTX
Migrating enterprise workloads to AWS
PDF
NAVER Ceph Storage on ssd for Container
PPTX
State of the Container Ecosystem
PPTX
Mini-Training: To cache or not to cache
PDF
OpenStack Cinder, Implementation Today and New Trends for Tomorrow
PPTX
VMworld - sto7650 -Software defined storage @VMmware primer
PPT
Openstack presentation
PDF
Txlf2012
PPTX
Ceph Day Tokyo - Bring Ceph to Enterprise
PPTX
OpenStack: Toward a More Resilient Cloud
PDF
CloudStack - LinuxFest NorthWest
PDF
A Tale of 2 Systems
PDF
VMworld 2013: vSphere Flash Read Cache Technical Overview
PDF
Better, faster, cheaper infrastructure with apache cloud stack and riak cs redux
PPTX
OpenStack and Windows
Red Hat Storage Roadmap
Red Hat Storage Roadmap
It's the End of Data Storage As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Petabyte Scale Object Storage Service Using Ceph in A Private Cloud - Varada ...
Whats new in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Clustering and Storage
Migrating enterprise workloads to AWS
NAVER Ceph Storage on ssd for Container
State of the Container Ecosystem
Mini-Training: To cache or not to cache
OpenStack Cinder, Implementation Today and New Trends for Tomorrow
VMworld - sto7650 -Software defined storage @VMmware primer
Openstack presentation
Txlf2012
Ceph Day Tokyo - Bring Ceph to Enterprise
OpenStack: Toward a More Resilient Cloud
CloudStack - LinuxFest NorthWest
A Tale of 2 Systems
VMworld 2013: vSphere Flash Read Cache Technical Overview
Better, faster, cheaper infrastructure with apache cloud stack and riak cs redux
OpenStack and Windows
Ad

Recently uploaded (20)

PPTX
KOM of Painting work and Equipment Insulation REV00 update 25-dec.pptx
PPT
“AI and Expert System Decision Support & Business Intelligence Systems”
PPTX
A Presentation on Artificial Intelligence
PDF
Spectral efficient network and resource selection model in 5G networks
PDF
Network Security Unit 5.pdf for BCA BBA.
PDF
Review of recent advances in non-invasive hemoglobin estimation
PDF
Dropbox Q2 2025 Financial Results & Investor Presentation
PDF
TokAI - TikTok AI Agent : The First AI Application That Analyzes 10,000+ Vira...
PDF
Blue Purple Modern Animated Computer Science Presentation.pdf.pdf
PDF
KodekX | Application Modernization Development
PDF
The Rise and Fall of 3GPP – Time for a Sabbatical?
PDF
Diabetes mellitus diagnosis method based random forest with bat algorithm
PDF
Advanced methodologies resolving dimensionality complications for autism neur...
PDF
Bridging biosciences and deep learning for revolutionary discoveries: a compr...
PDF
Build a system with the filesystem maintained by OSTree @ COSCUP 2025
PDF
Empathic Computing: Creating Shared Understanding
PPTX
Big Data Technologies - Introduction.pptx
PPTX
Digital-Transformation-Roadmap-for-Companies.pptx
PDF
Electronic commerce courselecture one. Pdf
PDF
Reach Out and Touch Someone: Haptics and Empathic Computing
KOM of Painting work and Equipment Insulation REV00 update 25-dec.pptx
“AI and Expert System Decision Support & Business Intelligence Systems”
A Presentation on Artificial Intelligence
Spectral efficient network and resource selection model in 5G networks
Network Security Unit 5.pdf for BCA BBA.
Review of recent advances in non-invasive hemoglobin estimation
Dropbox Q2 2025 Financial Results & Investor Presentation
TokAI - TikTok AI Agent : The First AI Application That Analyzes 10,000+ Vira...
Blue Purple Modern Animated Computer Science Presentation.pdf.pdf
KodekX | Application Modernization Development
The Rise and Fall of 3GPP – Time for a Sabbatical?
Diabetes mellitus diagnosis method based random forest with bat algorithm
Advanced methodologies resolving dimensionality complications for autism neur...
Bridging biosciences and deep learning for revolutionary discoveries: a compr...
Build a system with the filesystem maintained by OSTree @ COSCUP 2025
Empathic Computing: Creating Shared Understanding
Big Data Technologies - Introduction.pptx
Digital-Transformation-Roadmap-for-Companies.pptx
Electronic commerce courselecture one. Pdf
Reach Out and Touch Someone: Haptics and Empathic Computing

Turning object storage into vm storage

  • 1. Turning Object Storage into Virtual Machine Storage The open source Storage Router
  • 2. The Rise of Object Storage Source: http://blog.oxygencloud.com/2013/09/16/after-10-years-object-storage-investment-continues-and-begins-to-bear- significant-fruit/
  • 3. Object Storage • Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) started the Object Store momentum • ... but new players are taking over: – Scality – Ceph – Swiftstack – Amplidata – DataDirect Networks – ... • Used to store files but not as primary storage for Virtual Machines
  • 4. Object Storage Benefits • Build scale-out storage by adding more servers • High reliability by duplicating content across nodes • Easy to manage (no need to know about RAID or volumes) • Standard API as all solutions support S3 API, no vendor lock-in • Cost-effictive: mix SSDs (small but fast) and SATA (slow but large)
  • 5. Object Storage <> Hypervisor • Object Storage – Objects – Buckets – S3 API • Hypervisor – Files – Folders – Volumes – Block level storage What is needed is a technology whereby Virtual Machines can use Object Stores instead of a SAN and get the benefits of the low cost and scale-out capabilities of Object Stores
  • 6. Object Storage Challenges • The issues to use Object Storage as VM Storage: – Eventual consistency (the CAP Theorem) – Latency & performance • VMs require low latency and high performance • Object Stores are developed to contain lots of data (large disks and low performance) • Additional latency as Object Store is on the Local LAN instead of attached to the server – Different Management Paradigms • Object Stores understand Objects <> Hypervisors understand VMs
  • 7. Distributed File System? • Distributed File Systems such as GlusterFS and Ceph are not an answer: – The CAP Theorem also applies to these (consistency <> performance) – They were not designed for VMs (VM Snapshots?, cloning?) • Even new File Systems (copy-on-write) can’t give an answer None of the File Systems today have been designed to link Virtual Machines and Object Storage.
  • 8. The answer: Open vStorage Open vStorage turns Object Storage into Virtual Machine usable primary Storage!
  • 9. What is Open vStorage Open vStorage is an open source “Grid Storage Router" installed as a virtual machine on a host or a cluster of hosts to create a VM-centric, clustered, reliable, scale out and high performance storage system for virtual machines out of Storage Backends such as Object Stores.
  • 10. An Overview ESXi / KVM ESXi / KVM ESXi / KVM Scale-outVM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM Unified Namespace ... Swift SS DSSD Open vStorage SS DSSD Open vStorage SS DSSD Open vStorage
  • 11. Key aspects are • Unified namespace presented as NFS to all Hosts • Open vStorgae leverages server flash as acceleration • Flexibility in storage backends • Redundancy and Fault Tolerance in Software • Asymmetric Scale Out Architecture • VM-centric approach • Multi-hypervisor • Open-source: Apache License version, Version 2,0
  • 12. Solving Eventual Consistency TIME LBA 1: A LBA 2: B LBA 3: C LBA 4: D LBA 5: E LBA 1: F LBA 1: A LBA 6: G LBA 2: C LBA 3: D LBA 4: E ... SSD or PCI Flash LBA 1: A LBA 2: B LBA 3: C LBA 4: D LBA 5: E SCO 1 LBA 1: F LBA 1: A LBA 6: G LBA 2: C LBA 3: D SCO 2 LBA 4: E ... SCO 3 Transfer SCOs once they are full to the Object Store at slow pace Each write is appended to the current SCO Swift ...
  • 13. How does it work ... VM VMDK NFS VM Config Open vStorage VSA Distributed Database Volume VM VMDK VM Config Volume Storage Backend (Ceph, SwiftStack, ...) Open vStorage VSA VM VMDK VM Config Volume Volume is only available on 1 Host!
  • 14. Open vStorage: Summary • Uses an always append approach • Push Storage Container Objects to the Object Store once it is full (at slower pace) • Each Virtual Machine with the Open vStorage software has its own NFS server and exports a different file system instance • But each Host is tricked into believing that it accesses a single unified namespace shared across all the Hosts (so vMotion is supported)
  • 15. Download the Open vStorage (it is free) and give it a try! http://doc.openvstorage.com/ Give it a try ...